Recharged

First, our apologies. Well, it’s really Gretchen’s apology, but since I’m in charge of this blog, I get to make it. The apology, that is. Here’s how it went down:

Every morning we get up. Really early. In fact, too early, but that’s a whole other story. Gretchen makes breakfast — mine and hers — though I refuse to eat mine while she eats hers while reading the news. Then she packs up the dog backpack after she takes a shower and gets dressed. I love watching her pack the bag because all my favorite things go in there — treats, the orange and blue ball, sometimes a tug toy or two, and the camera. Yes, I like the camera because it means we’re going to work and I like work.

So today, I watched her do all that stuff that she normally does for the morning routine — treats, ball, toys, camera. Check, check, check, check. Off she goes to school and then returns with Ollie and Gemma in tow. Boy, are we all excited to see each other. We head out for a nice long walk, searching for a place to play but the tennis courts are being used by tennis players (the nerve!) and our favorite field at the park is getting mowed. So we head through the tunnel and down by the lake on our way back to Ollie’s house.

Gretchen pulls us off the side of the road for what she thinks will be a really nice photograph — the three of us by some flowers in bloom. We sit, we wait, she pulls out the camera and turns it on. But it doesn’t go on and instantly, we remember — the battery is still in the charger. Darn it. Darn it. Darn it.

Now our apology to Ollie and Gemma’s families. We are so sorry we didn’t get photographs of your canine companions. Instead, we took them for an extra long walk and promise we will take lots and lots of photos when we see them again. Instead, we pulled up two photos from this summer when Ollie and Gemma were playing in the backyard. Enjoy.

Okay, I feel a bit better, but I sure wish we’d put that battery back into the camera.

Live and learn.

We did put it back in once Ollie and Gemma went home and we were on our way to pick up Alice. Maybe because Gretchen hadn’t taken too many photos earlier in the day, she felt compelled to take a lot of Alice –that and Alice was having so much fun at the tennis courts (no more tennis players) that she just couldn’t stop snapping photos. Whatever. We had a blast, that’s all I know, and Alice had a great time playing fetch, chasing me, and letting me chase her. Woo hoo!

Not only did Alice have fun chasing me and letting me chase her, she really had a great time playing fetch.

Only she’s kind of a ball hog. I mean, really.

After Alice went home, we picked up Saber who was excited to see us, too. We headed back to the tennis courts for some fun times before we headed over to the school where we met our good friend, the young student. If you’re counting, that’s three good days in a row. Gretchen says it’s because he gets to use the camera and then, after he takes photos of us, Gretchen prints out the photos and gives him to the next day. “He likes that,” she said, and I think she just might be right. I mean, he took photos of Saber and me, but when Lulu came by with his mom, Cecilia, well, Lulu got her photo taken too. Nice.

When we finished at the school, we took Saber home and then were planning on walking over to Wilson’s house only Gretchen thought that I might need to rest since I’d been on every walk today. So back to the house I went. I even gave her my sad eyes, but she insisted I rest while she walked Wilson. They played fetch at the big field, which Wilson really enjoyed…

…but then Gretchen felt bad that I wasn’t having as much fun so she came back and got me and the three of us headed to the recently mowed field and played more fetch. Wasn’t that nice of her?

And yes, that made me officially worn out. So worn out I ate my entire dinner. That’s rarity around her, but I’d worked hard and really felt like I needed it. It actually tasted pretty good.

Tomorrow’s Friday. I’m pretty excited about that. And tomorrow, we won’t forget the battery!

Until then,

Rubin